Instead of copying the HTML from TextMate and pasting it into a browser-based compose window (he uses Posterous in his screencast), I’ll copy my Markdown post from Scrivener, open a Markdown blog post template in TextMate (via the Blogging Bundle) and then publish with Control-Command-P.

In fact, I’ll see if I can create an Automator workflow to further automate the process, even though it’s pretty quick as it is. In the meantime, check out Chase’s post.

Update

I’ve gotten several comments and questions about this setup, which I’ll address here. First of all, I’ve learned the hard way that composing blog posts in a browser is a bad idea. Unexpected crashes, network outages, etc. can destroy your hard work. So I’m after alternative desktop software.

Many of you suggested MarsEdit. I’ve tired to get into it several times without success, but I couldn’t tell you why. After much prompting from Brett, I downloaded TextMate, mostly to take advantage of his Blogsmith Bundle for TUAW blogging. It’s so obscenely useful that I couldn’t imagine working without it at this point. Bundles add a tremendous amount of functionality to TextMate, and Brett’s work is a prime example of that. It’s a huge time-saver.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on a large writing project since November with the help of Scrivener. While TextMate is the race horse, Scrivener is the meticulous jockey who ensures that everything is in order before hitting the track. I’ve begun using it for organizing long posts on TUAW and 52 Tiger. I can’t publish directly from Scrivener, but that’s OK, as publication isn’t its job.

TextMate might seem like overkill for blogging, but I’ll argue that’s not the case. The time-saving benefits of bundles can’t be overstated. For my personal blogging, I use Brad Choate’s Blogging Bundle1 and this Markdown plugin for WordPress. 2 Once a post is pasted into TextMate, I can do so much more with it than simply publish, including saving local copies, drag-and-drop image upload, etc.